Information for Students

STUDENTS' RIGHTS DURING STUDENT CONDUCT BOARD HEARINGS

All charges shall be presented to the Respondent in written form. A time shall be set for a SCB hearing, not fewer than five nor more than 15 calendar days after the student has been notified unless the student waives these time limits. Maximum time limits for scheduling of SCB hearings may be extended at the discretion of the SCA.

The student may attend an information session during which the student can view all materials related to the case, receive instruction regarding the disciplinary process and the student’s rights, and confirm the forum in which the case will be heard.

Parent(s) and legal guardians of dependent students under the age of 21 at the time of the alleged offense may also be notified of pending charges at the discretion of the SCA and pursuant to the processes outlined in the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

Student Conduct Board (SCB) hearings shall be conducted by a SCB according to the following guidelines except when otherwise stated:

1. SCB hearings shall be conducted in private.

2. The Respondent, and their advisors, if any, shall be allowed to attend the entire portion of the SCB hearing at which information is received (excluding deliberations). Admission of any other person to the SCB hearing shall be at the discretion of the SCB and/or its SCA.

3. In the SCB hearings involving more than one Respondent, the SCA, in his or her discretion, may permit the SCB hearings concerning each student to be conducted either separately or jointly.

4. The Complainant(s) and the Respondent(s) have the right to be assisted by an advisor they choose, at their own expense. The advisor cannot be an attorney. The Complainant and/or the Respondent is responsible for presenting his or her own information, and therefore, advisors are not permitted to speak or to participate directly in an SCB hearing before a SCB. A student should select as an advisor a person whose schedule allows attendance at the scheduled date and time for the SCB hearing because delays will not normally be allowed due to the scheduling conflicts of an advisor.

5. The Respondent and the SCB, at the option of the SCA, may arrange for witnesses. The University will try to arrange the attendance of possible witnesses who are members of the University community, if reasonably possible, and who are identified by the Complainant and/or Respondent at least two weekdays prior to the SCB hearing. Witnesses will provide information to and answer questions from the SCB. Questions of whether potential information will be received shall be resolved in the discretion of the chairperson of the SCB.

6. Pertinent records, exhibits, and written statements may be accepted as information for consideration by a SCB at the discretion of the chairperson. The Respondent shall be permitted to respond to the charges in a written or oral statement of reasonable length.

7. All procedural questions are subject to the final decision of the chairperson of the SCB.

8. After the portion of the SCB hearing concludes in which all information deemed pertinent by the SCA or SCB has been received, the SCB shall determine (by majority vote if the SCB consists or more than one person) whether the Respondent has violated each section of The Code which the student is charged with violating.

9. The SCB’s determination shall be made on the basis of whether it is “more likely than not” that the Accused Student violated The Code. This is also known as “a preponderance of the evidence.”

10. All hearings will be fair and impartial and will use a fundamental fairness standard when assessing whether the information presented constitutes a preponderance of the evidence.

11. A student may submit a challenge to the impartiality of any member of a hearing board before the hearing proceeds. The SCA will decide whether the student’s challenge has merit and another SCB should be convened.

12. Formal rules of process, procedure, and/or technical rules of evidence, such are applied in criminal or civil court, are not used in Student Conduct Code proceedings.

13. During time periods in which any of the SCBs Offense Sanctions, weapon suspension, and stalking suspension, assault on equipment, suspension beverages and warning card Disciplinary are not officially constituted, the USCO or designee may choose an appropriate alternative as the SCB.

14. Any provisions of the SCB hearing guidelines may be varied in the discretion of the SCA and/or SCB. The Code must be interpreted and enforced in the context of an academic community. Concepts such as fairness and impartiality must be understood differently in a school than in a court, as the likelihood of pre-existing relationships between the people involved is high and one of the major goals of the process is educational. The USCO or designee may use information provided on social networking sites, in the process of determining if a violation of the Student Conduct Code has occurred.